The Woman in the Yard Review

 

I just saw the new movie “The Woman in the Yard,” and here are my thoughts on the film…

After the accidental death of her husband, a woman tries to piece her life together while raising her kids on their farm while also dealing with a broken leg when a strange woman in black appears in their yard and will not leave.

The cast all did a fantastic job; Danielle Deadwyler as Ramona is a character you have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, she just lost her husband, and he’s trying his best; on the other, she clearly has some form of bipolarism and depression and is clearly not making the best decisions for her family. During a lot of the film, you go back and forth with her, not knowing if he's going to help against this creepy woman or be a hindrance.

The son, Taylor (played by Peyton Jackson), is also excellent; he’s the glue trying to keep everyone together and stepped up to be the man of the house but is also sick of dealing with Ramona‘s issues. For such a young actor, he does a great job at portraying a lot of complex emotions while still feeling like an authentic teenager. I think this kid really is going to go places in the future.

The little girl (Estella Kahiha) does a good job at being a cute kid; an actor, Russell Hornsby, I like, plays the husband in a small supporting role, and without giving too much away about the woman in the yard herself (Okwui Okpokwasili), let me just say… Grace Jones would be proud lol.

Jaume Collet-Serra‘s direction is creative; for a movie that takes place all in one location, he gets very creative and stylish with the camera shots and movements. Definitely keep the pacing going and feel lively.

I appreciate how in the first half they really try and develop this family and their dynamic, and while there aren’t too many scares at first, by the end, it gets really trippy and psychological, and I especially liked how the villain used her powers; I thought that was pretty creative.

I can see if certain viewers get annoyed at Ramona at the beginning for not doing the “local” moves. I mean, there’s a seemingly crazy woman in her yard talking crazy shit, and she makes a lot of dumb choices, but

There are explanations for it.

The “creature” in this movie is definitely a metaphor for what the main character is going through, which I’m not going to spoil because it involves a twist, but for the most part I thought it was handled well. Some parts could feel a bit heavy-handed, and some of the powers at the end could be a bit confusing and not make the most cohesive sense, but you’re still able to follow and go along with it.

I would describe this as like if Jordan Peele and R.L. Stein made their own version of The Babadook. Plus, it’s a short movie, barely an hour and 30 minutes, so if you want to watch like a fun spooky movie, maybe if you have young kids who are trying to get into horror, this is a good choice… I give it a high three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

The Alto Knights Review

 

I recently saw The Alto Knights with my uncle Donald, and here are my thoughts…

Robert De Niro played two roles as mob bosses, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, the two leads of the mafia, and their friendship, rise to power, struggles, and eventual rivalry throughout the decades.

The best way I would describe this movie is in analogy… If Goodfellas is Cheerios, then The Alto Knights is an off-brand version, but still good in its own way.

The best part of this movie is Robert De Niro and his performance; it helps that they got the original writer of Goodfellas and Casino, Nicholas Pileggi, to write very authentic and funny dialogue. But De Niro is fantastic at differentiating the two characters, playing Frank as a very reserved and cool-headed posh mobster (like his character in Casino) and Vito like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, mixed with Harvey Keitel. And for someone playing both roles… De

Niro has a really good chemistry with himself lol.

Debra Messing & Katherine Narducci also give very strong and likable performances as the two women in the mobsters lives, and they work well off De Niro.

The movie has a very fun, boring cast; like, there are so many middle-aged New York “”Sopranos”-looking Italian guys in this, I was surprised that I didn’t get a free cannoli at the door lol.

The movie has some pacing problems at points, like they do some flashbacks and flash-forwards in the film, and I think if it had been told in a more linear style, it would’ve helped the film.

There are parts of the story you wish they had gone more into and might not have been able to film because of budget issues, but the way they get around this with old tiny photos was actually pretty creative and well done, so I tip my hat to them for that.

The movie is funnier than I thought it would be. Vito is a very wild and unpredictable character who says some funny things, so you’ll get some good laughs in the film.

I like the first half as a sort of history of the mob mixed with the rise to power of these two guys, and then the second half focuses on Frank pulling off a scheme and the tension that goes with that. It was very interesting and kept me intrigued.

The film goes on a bit long at points, like a couple of scenes feel dragged out, and other scenes feel like more information should be there but are too short. And finally, the ending felt a bit rushed and could’ve had more of an “oof” to it, instead of a sort of quick wrap-up we get.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. Depending on how much you enjoy mob movies, Martin Scorsese, or history, or De Niro, or Goodfellas, it might influence how much you enjoy the film. I feel like the more you enjoy it, the better time you’ll have, but it’s one of those movies that if it’s like a lazy day and you want to watch something new and you put it on, you’ll have a good time with it overall if you’re into that sort of thing.

I give it a high three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ … Forget about it. 🤌

Black Bag Review

I saw the spy thriller Black Bag, and here are my thoughts…

A spy finds out one of his five coworkers might be a mole and could cause the death of thousands of people… And one of them is his wife.

So this is one of those movies that the less you know going in, the better a time you’ll have, so I won’t go much into details, but I will say this movie is like a rollercoaster… It has some real fun twists and turns lol.

Black Bag is very stylish, like if David Fincher directed an Alfred Hitchcock-style small-budget 1960s James Bond movie. And while the filmmaking is minimal, it was very effective and exciting seeing things unfurl. Mixed with the entire cast giving great performances, the movie accomplishes a lot while keeping it simple.

Michael Fassbender gives a fantastic reserved performance, which I always find to be the hardest performances to pull off, because you have to do so much while doing very little, so you have to be very precise, but he does it incredibly.

The entire cast is fantastic. Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Marisa Abela, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan give these layered and complex performances that throughout most of the movie you don’t know who’s on whose side and who could be playing who. As someone who likes to figure out mysteries before the movie does, I had a hard time figuring this one out, so good job to the filmmakers.

I liked the little nods and send-ups the film makes to the James Bond franchise, including hiring former 007 Pierce Brosnan in an “M” (James Bond’s boss) type role. Also, the movie plays around with certain character types known from that franchise and takes them in some interesting and new directions, which I dug.

I like how the film uses the spy genre as a metaphor for relationships and how people define being in a loving, healthy relationship and the good/bad that comes with it.

Given the mystery and complexity of people’s relationships and the nature of spy films in general being so mysterious, it can feel like watching chess sometimes. Like, it can be a bit hard to track everyone’s movements, but once they explain it to you, it makes perfect sense.

This was a nice surprise. I had a great time watching it, and I think it’s one of those movies I can recommend to almost anyone, and they’ll also enjoy it quite a bit.

I give it somewhere between a high four stars and low five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie Review

 

I saw “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie,” and here are my thoughts on the film…

In order to save their house, Porky and Daffy get jobs at a gum factory and uncover an alien invasion conspiracy…

The characterization is definitely a throwback to the original 1930s personalities; Porky is very much responsible, good-natured, but shy… Daffy is like a guy with ADHD who got really drunk at a party; you have to keep an eye on him or else he’ll run off and cause mischief or chaos lol.

Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d say… Daffy and Porky made great brothers lol for good (loving and always being there for each other) and the bad (getting on each other’s nerves and wanting to kill each other), but in the end, you really like and root for them and their brotherhood; it’s the heart of the movie.

Side note: Both characters were voiced by the same actor (Eric Bauza), and he did an amazing job. It’s very easy to forget it’s one guy talking to himself lol, so big ups to him.

Petunia Pig was a fun addition; she struck a good balance between being the “straight man” to Porky and Daffy’s wackiness but having some “Looney” tendencies of herself. I could see her popping up in more Looney Tunes properties in the future, which would be cool.

The alien villain also fits the Looney Tunes mold very well; he’s creepy while also being very silly and shrill. I could see this character being added to the Looney Tunes rogue gallery or facing off against Marvin the Martian someday. Peter MacNicol did a wonderful voice acting performance.

As someone who was a big fan of 2-D animation growing up, this movie is stunning; everyone just moves so seamlessly and is so well detailed. Plus there’s a gag with a farmer that evokes a certain animation style. I was a big fan of it in the 90s, so that was a throwback I really appreciated. Plus, on a budget of 15 million, the animators did a fantastic job.

There are a few modern jokes about modern technology and trends; one or two made me roll my eyes, but they’re so silly and ridiculous and… Looney lol, so the jokes work for the most part.

I have sort of mixed feelings about some of the modern storytelling conventions. The film has… Like, on the one hand, I appreciate that they give Porky and Daffy character arcs, and they grow as characters. It’s good because that’s where a lot of the heart of the film comes… But on the other hand, the storytelling is a little cliché. It very much feels like a standard romcom plot with two people having issues with each other, confronting them, and then overcoming them and growing closer… which is well done, and maybe I’m just being a Looney Tunes purist, but I thought it was played a little safe and predictably, but honestly, it’s nothing that takes away from the movie. It’s all just a personal thing for me; I think most people will actually enjoy it.

So to summarize… when you were a kid and he always wanted something and your childhood passed by and you never got it and then you were an adult and you came across that thing you always wanted and it brought back all these different feelings and nostalgia and then you decided to get it and then you felt like a part of your life was now complete… This movie isn’t that lol, but it was still pretty fun and a great surprise. As a life long Looney Tunes fan, you could tell there was a lot of love and passion and creativity put into the film, and I had a great time watching it. I give it a high four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

I hope they do more of these in the future, teaming up Looney Tunes and telling original stories… I would love to see a Yosemite Sam versus Marvin the Martian “Cowboy vs. Alien” type movie lol.

Queen of the Ring Review

 

I saw Queen of the Ring, and here are my thoughts…

The story tells the rise and career of the first female million-dollar-paid athlete, a wrestler named Mildred Burke.

This movie is directed by Ash Avildsen, son of John Avildsen, who directed Rocky and The Karate Kid, and this movie has a similar feel, a no-name underdog who fights their way to the top and gets the love and adoration of the people.

Emily Brett Rickards is very charismatic in the role; she has the charm and heart and sass that make the character very likable, plus she very much buffed up for the role so the fight scenes feel very tough and fun to watch.

Josh Lucas plays a very complicated character; at some points he’s very funny and charming, at other points he’s very despicable and shady, and at other points he’s very caring and sticks up for little people. Definitely an obstacle the main character has to overcome, but the actor brings a lot of dimension to a guy that had a lot of layers to him and what he accomplished.

The supporting cast is great, many wonderful actresses and actors (Tyler Posey, Walton Goggins, Francesca Eastwood, Marie Avgeropoulos, Deborah Ann Woll, Cara Buono, Kailey Farmer, Gavin Casalsgno, Adam Demos, and Kelli Berglund), all of whom give very likable, realistic, and entertaining performances that you enjoy watching. I would say the performances are the standout of this film… like when it’s hard for me to pick a favorite character, you know you have a great cast.

The story is a very straightforward, by-the-books biofilm and all the cliché that comes with it, and you’ll be watching the film and be able to anticipate the beats of the film before the characters do.

They try and fit a lot of information about these people's lives into a short amount of time, so it can feel a bit like whiplash as they try and hit all the big bullet points, but it was never too much that it took me out of the movie too much.

So for an almost 2 1/2-hour film, it works for the most part, but in some cases, it feels a bit scattershot.

The film takes place in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and on a rather low budget, they were able to capture the feel of the time very well, and the direction has an almost Goodfellas Scorsese-type feel with the editing and pacing, which I enjoyed since that’s a personal favor of mine.

I have mixed feelings on how they show the passage of time, like the main character has a son in this film who, throughout the course of the movie, goes from like 2 to 18, but the other characters look like they hardly aged a day, maybe a couple years. On the one hand, I’ve seen films where people age, and they apply makeup on them, and they try and act older, and it could be a little distracting, so letting the actors just be the characters helps you emerge in the story, but you’ll be watching a scene, and then another character comes back or a title card pops up and it’s ten years later, and it’s like, “Wait, how much time has passed?”

The movie can be kind of sappy at moments, nothing too bad, and honestly, that’s a personal thing with me; I’ve never really been a sappy movie guy, but the actors really sell it with good acting, so I was able to go along with it in the story.

Overall, what could’ve been a generic biopic is elevated by the performances of the cast, the style, and historical context. Plus you can tell the cast must of had a fun time making the movie. I give it three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️. It’s hard to go wrong with beautiful babes with big bulging muscles lol.

Mickey 17 Review

I saw Mickey 17, and despite not seeing Mickey 1-16 lol, here are my thoughts on the film.

After being talked into borrowing too much money from gangsters, Mickey Barnes and his buddy flee Earth on a space mission to a new planet, where he becomes an expendable (unfortunately not teaming up with Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham to fight space bad guys) where he performs dangerous or lethal assignments to further the mission, dies, and then is cloned/printed out of a new machine… Until one day he survives and goes back to the ship and finds he’s already been cloned, so he has to interact with his clone.

I would describe this movie as Starship Troopers meets Anora.

I think the best thing about this movie is Robert Pattinson; he’s one of these actors who loves to disappear into a character and will change how he talks, walks, and has little mannerisms that make him feel like he’s a different person. Plus, when he’s interacting with himself as the two different clones, he’s fantastic at making them both distinct; you forget it’s the same actor and just buy that these are two different people talking to each other.

I like how the idea of the movie coincides with the main character's arc… Mickey is a very passive and shy person who just kind of lets people and things take advantage of him; he just sort of lets Things happen, which makes his life harder. So in order to change, he literally has to confront himself, a.k.a. his clone; I thought that was a pretty clever conceit.

I like the look of the movie; the special effects were, for the most part, pretty convincing and had a nice distinct look. I also liked the use of blues and gold as the color palette, and the overall world had a very unique and creative design.

Bong Joon-ho did a good job with directing. He has a good eye for shot framing; everything had a nice mix of color and shadows, he got good performances out of everyone, and he had some nice reoccurring motifs, which helped push the story in a visual way.

There are some alien creatures in this, which I thought had a very imaginative design, the kind of look like woolly mammoths mixed with insects mixed with HP Lovecraft creatures. Plus when you looked at them, there was always something new you were discovering about them, like “Oh, I didn’t realize the vertebrae was so detailed.” lol.

I have to give credit to Mark Ruffalo; he did a great job playing a very unlikable and punchable bad guy. Unfortunately, I think he did too good a job… Like, his character has these big-ass false teeth that every time he speaks, he sounds like a hillbilly trying to sound proper, and he’s just so slimy and an attention whore that after a while, every time he came on screen, I’m like, “Can somebody shoot this guy already?”. Toni Collette is definitely hamming it up too; she and Ruffalo were definitely giving Jess and James vibes from Team Rocket in Pokémon. Now sometimes it was funny and sometimes it was a bit much, it’s When decisions that I can see different people feeling different opinions.

Naomi Ackie did a good job as Mickey’s love interest. Her character is like a quirky, strung-out badass, like if Ellen Ripley was a big punk rock fan and smoked a lot of weed, which made her character feel unique. (Also, I didn’t realize I had seen her in 2 other movies before, so I have to give her credit for disappearing into the role as well). I will say they don’t really go that much into her character, like why does she love Mickey so much? Plus, if she’s not one of the senators sycophants, why is she here? Is she on the run like Mickey and Timon? Also towards the end, a lot of stuff happens with her character that’s explained to us and not really shown, and there’s just a lot going on with her character that isn’t really explained, which I wish it was; she’s mostly there to be a loving force to give Mickey hope.

Steven Yuen did a great job as Mickey’s buddy Timon. His character is very shady, slimy, and easily could’ve been unlikable… But Steve Yuen brings a charisma and humor to the role that makes him fun to watch on screen.

Holiday Granger is an actress I like; she shows up in a small role, which was nice to see. Also, there was an actress I had never seen before (Anamaria Vartolomei), who I thought did a good job. I hope to see more of her in the future.

This movie definitely has some political allusions, which was kind of expected because in Bong's other two films I've seen, he makes allusions to politics and society and class and all that jazz… For me, I think it was a little too on the nose in this one, because let me get this straight… We have a controversial leader who makes a lot of speeches, has loyal followers who wears red hats, and he wants to make things… Great, for the people… Hmm, now where have I heard that before? Lol, I just thought there was a way to do the social and political satire without being too on the nose with it… Like, it’s so on the nose it’s practically a nose hair lol.

So there are multiple plots going on in this movie, like Mark Ruffalo & Toni Collette chewing up scenery and making sauces, Mickey and Timon being on the run from gangsters, discovering the alien creatures. The scientist studying Mickey, Kai and Nasha have their own stuff going on. I would say for the most part it all congeals pretty well, like the director is able to mostly balance all the different tones and storylines… But the movie does feel a bit long and uneven at points, like you’ll be watching one thing go on, and then it pretty much stops for this other storyline to take over, and then when that reaches an impasse, another storyline will take over. This might not be as big of a thing for others , but for me, I thought it could’ve been tighter, a little shorter, and more cohesive.

I like the world-building, like how government, industry, and religion are three separate entities that both work in tandem but are also kind of working in their own self-interest on earth and in the space pod; it definitely had a Paul Verhoeven feel, which I always enjoy.

So this movie has three distinct acts, I would say… The first half is an interesting sci-fi character piece/love story. I think this is the strongest, hooking people in and wanting to see what happens next… The middle half turns into a satirical comedy, which reminded me of the middle half of Anora. This was my favorite part because it was funny, creative, and most impressively unpredictable… Like the story kept going interesting and unexpected places that I couldn’t tell what was going to happen next, it also had some light “The Big Lebowski” vibes, which is one of my all-time favorite movies, so I definitely dug that.

The third act, without going into spoilers, turns into a very specific type of movie that was big in the 90s. I don’t want to spoil anything because then people will be “whaleing” hint hint at me, but it was very sort of by the books, sci-fi action “trying to pull the heartstrings” type stories telling him, and some of it really worked. Some of it didn’t; there’s definitely a “we’re running out of runtime, so we have to wrap everything up in a neat little bow” type of storytelling, which felt a bit unearned and just too much for me personally.

So overall, the movie is very creative with great performances, visuals, and humor.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always come together in the most satisfying way; the political satire can feel like the filmmakers are hitting you over the head with it, and the pacing could’ve been tighter, but it’s definitely a movie you’ll enjoy watching the first time around. I am just unsure how much rewatchability it has. That’ll definitely be up to each individual viewer, and it could spark some interesting debates, but again, you’ll have to make up your own mind on that. I give it a high three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I have my issues with the movie, but overall I had a good time watching it.